BIRDS OF KANSAS. 517 



posed, some rarity, and hurrying forward to gain the prize, was 

 more surprised than pleased to find nothing but an ordinary 

 Shrike. On another occasion, I- was led a long chase through 

 a piece of tangled wood, bordering on one of the Yukon chan- 

 nels in the delta, by some strange and musical notes unlike 

 anything I had ever heard before, which appeared to be uttered 

 close at hand, and a moment later to be far away. After con- 

 siderable time, as the wood became more open, the author of 

 these notes was found skulking from tree to tree, in advance, 

 and a long shot brought down another Shrike." 



Their nests are usually placed in bushy or thorny trees; a 

 rude, bulky structure, composed of twigs, grasses and stems, and 

 warmly lined with mosses, lichens and downy feathers. Eggs 

 four to six, 1.07x.78; pale bluish green, spotted and blotched 

 with purple, brown and lilac; in form, oval or ovate. 



Lanius ludovicianus 



LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE. 



This species is entered on the authority of Prof. F. H. Snow, 

 who states in his catalogue of the birds of Kansas that "sev- 

 eral typical specimens of this southern form have been taken." 

 This bird has not come under my observation in the State. 

 Its natural home is in the south Atlantic and Gulf States, east 

 of the Mississippi River. It occasionally wanders northward, 

 and Kansas is without doubt its extreme western limits, where 

 it can only be safely entered as a straggler. 



B. 237. R. 149. C. 187. G. 71, 262. U. 622. 



HABITAT. "Florida, the Carolinas and the Gulf States east 

 of Texas." (Check List of N. A. Birds.} "More southern 

 portions of eastern United States, but north irregularly to Ohio, 

 Vermont, etc.; regularly to Virginia and southern Illinois." 

 (Ridgway. ) 



SP. CHAR. Adult: Above, slate colored, slightly whitish on upper tail cov- 

 erts and end of scapulars; below, white, sometimes a little ashy shaded, but no 

 wavy black lines, or only a few slight ones; white on wings and tail less exten- 

 sive than in borealia or excubitorides; black bridle meeting its fellow across fore- 

 head, not interrupted by white on lower eyelid, scarcely or not bordered above 

 by hoary white. Young: Differing from the adult much as young borealis does, 



